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TURA, Feb 3 – When the well-armed and counter-insurgency trained personnel of the 2nd Meghalaya Police Battalion, located at Goeragre, 10 kms from Tura, are not chasing militants in Garo Hills, they can surely be found replacing their guns for garden tools inside their complex busy in the cultivation of strawberries which has become a major hit in the three districts of Garo Hills with demands for export even pouring in from Assam and Shillong.

What began as a trial one year back has now transformed into a major cash payer for the battalion with every man, officer or otherwise, out on the fields during the early morning hours to nurture the plants. Already, the success of the programme is beginning to take the shine off the government-run strawberry farm run by the Horticulture department.

The decision to take up strawberry cultuvation on a large scale was made by the Commandant of the battalion, J F K Marak, after he took charge of the force and found a sizeable portion of land lying unutilised inside the camp.

“We thought why not make use of the land that is lying waste. Also, a small stream passes through the area which could be utilised for water harvesting. So we went in for the cultivation,” informed a happy Marak.

The shrubs and bushes were cleared and the land prepared for cultivation by the middle of 2009. All they had to do was wait for the monsoons to get over. The transplantation began in September and by January the crop began to bear fruit, one of the reasons being that strawberry is the only fruit that starts paying back within 100 days of planting, thus making it a lucrative option for the growers.

The battalion’s Unique Selling Point (USP) is its organic status since they do not use any form of fertilizers or pesticides on the crop preferring to solely depend on manure for its enrichment. Manure is never a shortage in the force since they also rear several cows for milk.

During the recent development seminar organised by the Ministry of DoNER at Tura, the strawberries brought in from the battalion were a hit with every delegate and participant.

The cultivation of strawberries has taken a major expansion and presently there are over 7,500 strawberry plants giving a yield of 15 kgs a day. Each kg of the fruit is neatly packaged and sold for a sum of Rs 200. Already 100 kgs of fruit have been harvested and the money procured from its farming activity is being pushed back into the battalion for its development.

There are demands for its export to Shillong, Guwahati and other cities of the North East but the force is presently unable to fulfil everyone’s wishes because of the large scale demand at the local market itself. Enthusiastic buyers regularly flock into the battalion headquarters from where they are allowed to hand-pick the fruit fresh from the garden itself.

The farming activities of the force is not only centred around the strawberry crop. Cultivation of cauliflowers, cabbage, mustard seeds, radish have also successfully been taken up on a large scale in the battalion. The latest project of the force is digging a fish pond the size of a basketball court for rearing locally available fish. “The intention of the battalion’s project is mainly to help make us self-sufficient in our food procurement and help the boys to realise the vast avenues available for them to take up additional income generating schemes in their homes and villages,” rightly said Commandant J F K Marak.
TURA, Feb 3 – When the well-armed and counter-insurgency trained personnel of the 2nd Meghalaya Police Battalion, located at Goeragre, 10 kms from Tura, are not chasing militants in Garo Hills, they can surely be found replacing their guns for garden tools inside their complex busy in the cultivation of strawberries which has become a major hit in the three districts of Garo Hills with demands for export even pouring in from Assam and Shillong.

What began as a trial one year back has now transformed into a major cash payer for the battalion with every man, officer or otherwise, out on the fields during the early morning hours to nurture the plants. Already, the success of the programme is beginning to take the shine off the government-run strawberry farm run by the Horticulture department.

The decision to take up strawberry cultuvation on a large scale was made by the Commandant of the battalion, J F K Marak, after he took charge of the force and found a sizeable portion of land lying unutilised inside the camp.

“We thought why not make use of the land that is lying waste. Also, a small stream passes through the area which could be utilised for water harvesting. So we went in for the cultivation,” informed a happy Marak.

The shrubs and bushes were cleared and the land prepared for cultivation by the middle of 2009. All they had to do was wait for the monsoons to get over. The transplantation began in September and by January the crop began to bear fruit, one of the reasons being that strawberry is the only fruit that starts paying back within 100 days of planting, thus making it a lucrative option for the growers.

The battalion’s Unique Selling Point (USP) is its organic status since they do not use any form of fertilizers or pesticides on the crop preferring to solely depend on manure for its enrichment. Manure is never a shortage in the force since they also rear several cows for milk.

During the recent development seminar organised by the Ministry of DoNER at Tura, the strawberries brought in from the battalion were a hit with every delegate and participant.

The cultivation of strawberries has taken a major expansion and presently there are over 7,500 strawberry plants giving a yield of 15 kgs a day. Each kg of the fruit is neatly packaged and sold for a sum of Rs 200. Already 100 kgs of fruit have been harvested and the money procured from its farming activity is being pushed back into the battalion for its development.

There are demands for its export to Shillong, Guwahati and other cities of the North East but the force is presently unable to fulfil everyone’s wishes because of the large scale demand at the local market itself. Enthusiastic buyers regularly flock into the battalion headquarters from where they are allowed to hand-pick the fruit fresh from the garden itself.

The farming activities of the force is not only centred around the strawberry crop. Cultivation of cauliflowers, cabbage, mustard seeds, radish have also successfully been taken up on a large scale in the battalion. The latest project of the force is digging a fish pond the size of a basketball court for rearing locally available fish. “The intention of the battalion’s project is mainly to help make us self-sufficient in our food procurement and help the boys to realise the vast avenues available for them to take up additional income generating schemes in their homes and villages,” rightly said Commandant J F K Marak.